Overwatch 2 is taking pages from the Valorant playbook

digitaltrends.com:

Overwatch 2 should have been a surefire hit. The original Overwatch took the world by storm when it was released in 2016 and introduced a fresh take on the hero shooter subgenre established by Team Fortress 2. It had a healthy community, and its sequel would maintain that by not overriding its multiplayer base. In 2022, though, Overwatch 2 is both sorely needed and a controversial title.

In the years since its announcement, Activision Blizzard has lost multiple major developers related to the franchise and reportedly fostered a problematic work environment. Overwatch 2 has been delayed numerous times, and the original Overwatch hasn’t received a super-substantial update in almost two years as a result. Fans have since jumped to games like Valorant and Apex Legends.

As the Overwatch community feels frustrated and abandoned and workers organize at Activision Blizzard, Overwatch 2 has lost some of its shine. That’s why it makes sense that Blizzard is taking a clever marketing cue from one of its biggest competitors to stay relevant and keep discourse about the game in a place it’s happy with. 

Overwatch 2‘s first PvP beta begins today, finally giving fans a taste of what they’ve been waiting for through many ups and downs. Players can sign up for a chance to get access to the beta on the Overwatch website, but that’s not really the way Blizzard wants to attract people to the game. Instead, it wants players to watch several streamers play the game during a specific timef rame on April 27 to get a beta code via Twitch Drop.

Rolling out the beta in this way will drive engagement and discussion about Overwatch 2, which the game sorely needs. It’s all pretty clever, but there’s a catch: This has been done before.

Back in 2020,